


The Third Brother

by Ruusverd



Series: Echoes of the Fall AU [10]
Category: Echoes of the Fall - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Geralt/Yennefer (mentioned) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25878700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruusverd/pseuds/Ruusverd
Summary: Yennefer searches for Geralt and Ciri, and meets an interesting new ally.
Series: Echoes of the Fall AU [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863010
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	The Third Brother

**Author's Note:**

> In case the navigation is confusing: The Tsotec river is sort of “L” shaped. The north-south section that runs from the Crown of the World through the Plains to the Sun River Nation is called the “back,” the west-east section that runs through the middle of the Sun River Nation is called the “head,” and the estuaries where it runs into the sea are called the “mouth,” because the Sun River Nation thinks the river as a whole looks like a crocodile. It really doesn’t, judging by the map in the front of the book, but of course the Crocodiles would think it does. Atahlan is on the western end just after the river makes the sharp bend, and Tsokawan is a large fort at the eastern end near the estuaries.

Yennefer had left Atahlan the same day she’d arrived, as soon as she’d walked out of the temple in the midst of the brewing argument dividing her fellow priests. She’d known there was no way she could reach the Xin’trae in time to warn them if the soldiers had already been dispatched from Tsokawan, but she’d headed back down the Tsotec’s head anyway in case she could intercept them on their way back with the girl. Instead she’d arrived in Tsokawan to find the place in an uproar.

It seemed the attack had turned into a total disaster, and now everyone was trying to find someone else to blame. The Dragons were blaming the Caimans and claiming the girl was dead, while the Caimans were blaming the Dragons and insisting one of their own had carried her off safely during the attack. No stray Caiman had yet turned up with the girl, so either the Caiman were lying or something had happened to stop him from returning. Yennefer pitied whoever had to go to Atahlan and inform the Kasra. She doubted Emhyr would care whose particular fault the whole thing was.

From Tsokawan she’d gone to what was left of Xin’trae. If the Caimans had been telling the truth about the girl being rescued, perhaps she could pick up a trail. She’d used the temple’s resources to hire some of the Horse Society to provide mute horses for riding. She wouldn’t be able to keep her journey a secret, but she wasn’t able to move over great distances quickly as either a woman or a serpent. Time was of the essence if she hoped to find any tracks. She supposed she could always claim she’d been searching on the Kasra’s behalf if anyone chose to confront her, but she doubted anyone would try to stop her. Respect for the Snake was instilled in all the children of the Sun River Nation from the cradle, so there were very few who would dare to question one of the Serpent’s priests.

Any tracks leading away from the village had long since been blown away by the time she arrived, but she did find footprints of both a wolf and a horse in areas where the wind hadn’t been able to erase them. She Stepped into the shape of a large serpent, flicking out her forked tongue and bringing the scent to the special organs in the roof of her mouth. _Geralt,_ she recognized faint traces of his scent still remaining, too faint for her to try to follow. She Stepped back and started walking through the burnt village examining the scattered remains of the dead. Scavengers had done their work and there was little left that was recognizable, though she identified the woman who had been their chief by the larger frame and massive fangs of the Lion’s Champion.

She  didn’t bother looking for  a  wolf  carcass ; if Geralt  had  been killed  the bond between their souls would have killed her too.  Their bond hadn’t yet been tested by death, so she wasn’t sure  _how_ it would manage to keep a Snake and a Wolf together through death and rebirth, but she knew with absolute certainty that it  _would._

The bodies hadn’t been burned in the usual custom of the north, from which she deduced that the Caimans had been telling the truth about the girl being carried off. If Geralt had found the child dead he would have stayed and burned the bodies, but if he’d had reason to believe she  was alive he wouldn’t have wasted time on those who were beyond help. From the fact that the Caiman hadn’t made it back with the girl, she  assumed that Geralt had intercepted him  successfully.

Now she had to try to predict where Geralt would have gone once he’d gotten the girl back. The sensible thing to do would have been to go northeast to Where The Fords Meet, the only permanent settlement of the Horse Society. It wasn’t that far away, and from there he could have traveled up the Sand Pearl river to the Crown of the World in only a few days.

_These things are known: My Wolf is_ _not always a sensible man_ _,_ she thought fondly, _particularly when he feels threatened_ _._ The enemy had taken something he cared about. Once he got it back his primary thought would have been “ _get_ _away.”_ Therefore she decided he had probably headed northwest for the Tsotec's back simply because it was the opposite direction of southeast, where his enemies had come from.

Geralt had no definite place she knew he would go once he reached the Crown of the World, so her best chance of finding him would be to reach the top of the Tsotec’s back before he did and intercept him. How she would manage it when he had several days’ lead she didn’t know. She knelt and pressed her hands to the ground, seeking the wisdom of the Serpent. She felt the coils of the great Snake shifting deep in the earth, steady as always. _What should I do?_ she asked. _Where should I go?_

The Serpent had no clear guidance to offer, but the comforting sense of that steady, reliable presence allowed her to calm her mind and think clearly. Yennefer decided that heading due west and trying to reach the Tsotec’s back ahead of Geralt would be her best option. There she could hire one of the Horse’s swift canoes instead of bartering for a ride on a cargo boat as Geralt would. That way she might still reach the top of the river first, or catch up to him along the way.

She would have to travel on her own from this point,  since s he’d only  negotiated  for the Horse Society to take her as far as Xin’trae.  S he knew the  Horse  escort  who’d come along wouldn’t agree to take his mute brothers any farther without prior permission from  the Hetman of his clan . 

Once she’d bid farewell to the Horse escort, s he Stepped to a brown desert snake and set off, grateful that the forms of the Snake were  a bit more flexible than those of the  lesser totems . T h e Snake wasn't ideally suited to long journeys, but  this particular  variety  of  snake  could tolerate traveling in the heat  longer  than her human form. A snake was also far less likely to draw unwanted attention than a woman traveling alone.  Harming a priest  of any tribe would bring a terrible curse , but she wasn’t confident that would be enough to deter all of the Plains dwellers .

Yennefer rested in the shadow of a mesa during the hottest part of the day, Stepping and pulling out some of the travel rations she’d packed. She theoretically could feed herself by hunting Stepped, but she preferred not to. _Perhaps Tissaia was right,_ she thought, _Perhaps our cities are distancing us from our souls._ She dismissed the thought and started eating. She’d walked the Serpent’s back since she’d first learned to Step as a young girl with a crooked spine, she had nothing to prove to anyone.

She dozed off in the shade of the rock formation.  She meant to only sleep for an hour or two, but the heat must have affected her more strongly than she thought, because w hen she woke  the last light of the sunset was fading from the sky. She looked around for her pack and saw a man sitting  on the ground  next to her. In a flash she’d Stepped to a large viper, her venomous fangs on prominent display. The man leaned back, holding up empty hands.

“I don’t intend to harm you,” he said mildly, “I was simply curious about what brought you here. It has been many lifetimes of men since I met one of the oldest brother’s kin,” he smiled, displaying needle-like teeth.

She studied him closely, taking in the tall, gaunt frame, the pointed ears folded flat against his head, and the sallow, leathery skin. She Stepped, keeping a careful distance between them. “When the Plague People came and overran the Other Lands,” she said, as though answering a question he had asked, “There were three who stood together and faced them. Three brothers side by side called fire down from the sun and sundered these lands from the Other Lands, creating a sea so deep and wide that not even the Plague People could cross it. The brothers were marked forever afterwards, their people set apart from all the other tribes of the world. These things are known: the three who fought the Plague People together were the Serpent, the Owl, and…” she trailed off.

“And the Bat, yes,” the man seemed amused. He formed his words oddly, as if the speech he used was older than the speech of the world now.

“They say all of the Bat Society have gone into a deep sleep to await the end of the world,” she observed, as if remarking on the weather.

“No one, not even a Bat, could sleep that long without waking at times to eat.” He made a self-deprecating expression, “And perhaps some don’t have enough dedication to sleep all the centuries away.”

“What does a Bat eat, when he wakes? Do the legends speak truly about that?” She stared at him evenly, without expression.

He pursed his lips, “I restrict myself to the blood of mute beasts as a matter of principle,” he said, giving up  on  speaking around the subject, “Many of my  kin are not so… fastidious...  when they wake . The dark stories the Plains people tell of us are not without basis in fact.”

“Why should I trust you don’t intend to drain me?” she asked bluntly.

He tilted his head and looked away, over the Plains. Yennefer couldn’t see  very far  in the dark, but perhaps his eyes were  better than hers. “You shouldn’t, really. It’s true nonetheless.” He waved his hand at the grasslands stretching out around them, “I don’t  know why I can’t rest with the others of my kind,  but I can’t . I don’t want to sleep until the end of the world. I want to see it, to  meet the people, fly over the lands. I tried, when I first awoke and couldn’t return to sleep,” the man looked resigned, “but everywhere I went the people ran away.” 

“These things are known: the prey runs away when the hunter is seen,” Yennefer pointed out dryly.

“That is true, though unfortunate for me.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye, “The Serpent has always been known and trusted, perhaps if I traveled with Serpent’s priestess to speak for me I might be able to travel in peace. Our ancestors stood together as brothers, which makes the two of us cousins in a way.” He gestured to the mesa behind them, “Your journey must be an urgent one, to risk camping so close to the mesas. Only the truly desperate would come so close to a place where such terrible danger is known to lurk. Perhaps I could help you, in exchange for being permitted to travel with you?”

"You are right, I am in a hurry," Yennefer nodded sagely, not willing to admit that she’d been completely unaware of any such danger. _If I ever return to the temple in Atahlan,_ she said to herself, _I’m going to tell the others to stop dismissing the legends of the north as superstitious nonsense._ “I need to reach the top of the Tsotec’s back as quickly as possible,” she told him. “My- my mate is in danger and I need to go to him.”

“I did not think the Serpents formed long-term associations of that sort.”

“We usually don’t. My mate isn’t a Serpent, he’s a Wolf.” She tilted her chin up defiantly. All the Serpent’s people belonged to the priesthood, so by necessity the Snake priests were not bound to celibacy like the priests of most other tribes. Even a tribe of mostly-immortal beings needed to make children occasionally if they didn’t want to become extinct. Established romantic partnerships were rare however, and taking partners outside their own clan was discouraged. Bearing or siring children with someone not of the Snake’s people was strictly prohibited.

She felt sure that the only reason her relationship with Geralt hadn't been more harshly condemned by her kin was because her current body was unable to bear children, and because the others didn’t know of the bond between their souls. They saw Geralt as a sort of pet she entertained herself with, not someone important enough to compromise her devotion to the temple. _And yet here I am,_ she thought, _leaving_ _everything_ _behind_ _to_ _go to_ _him. Because I love him._ _I don’t care what the others think_ _,_ _I love him_ _and I'm_ glad _I will never have to face a world without him in it._

The Bat didn’t say anything to approve or disapprove of the identity of Yennefer’s lover, but simply dipped his head in acknowledgment. “ My people shun the daylight, but t he wings of the Bat are swift.  I f you were to Step to a m ore m anageable size I could carry  you  across the Plains  by night far faster than either of your forms could  achieve  in a day .”

She studied his face once more, trying to decide if she should trust him. She was trying to reach Geralt to help him, after all. It would rather defeat her purpose if she accidentally killed him by dying herself. “I agree,” she decided finally, “but if you intend to betray me, remember you are carrying me in my most lethal shape. These things are known: a single bite of the Serpent’s fangs would kill you just as surely as a knife to the heart.”

He nodded solemnly, “May I call you by name, since we are to travel together?”

“Yennefer Essen Venger. And you are?”

“Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff. But you may call me Regis.”

“Well, Regis,” Yennefer stood up and tried to brush the dust off her clothes, without much success. “Let’s be off. The night is only so long, and we have a far distance to travel.”

She was familiar with the large fruit bats that lived along the banks of the Tsotec, so she Stepped to what she felt would be a manageable size for such a creature. Then the Bat Stepped, and she saw that his extended wingspan would nearly equal the height of two men. She stared for a moment, then shifted her form to something rather larger so she wouldn’t simply slip through his claws. Gently he scooped her up in his hind claws, and then launched himself into the air with the flap of leathery wings.

**Author's Note:**

> Rules regarding reproduction for the Snake people are my own headcanon as their sex lives are sadly never addressed in the books. Given that the books never miss an opportunity to remind you that the Snake/Snake priests Are Special and their Souls Follow Different Rules and they Are Not Like Everyone Else I think it’s likely they’d have rules against having kids with “normal” people.
> 
> “Regis” is another name that I don't really like, but it’s easy to spell and remember and doesn’t have an obvious nickname so he gets to keep it. He narrowly escaped being called Terzieff, though.


End file.
